Risk Management Magazine

It doesn’t matter how comfortable you are in the great outdoors. One lapse in judgment can turn a seemingly serene situation into a disaster.

As a brigade sport bike and senior battalion motorcycle mentor, scores of Soldiers have asked me for advice about becoming a motorcyclist. Of these, one Soldier in particular stands out.

I was driving along the Missouri-Arkansas state line from my home in Overland Park, Kansas, to visit relatives in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. This easy, 225-mile drive should have taken me about four hours. Instead, I arrived 24 hours late and $1,500 lighter in the wallet.